Chapter 23
23
C ody pulled into the parking lot of Geena’s office building, where he killed the engine and exited his car in one smooth motion.
He’d told Lauren to cover for him while he took a long break. Geena wasn’t answering her phone, presumably because she was busy with work. He figured he could pick her up and take her to lunch, where they could talk about Gary and that potential PIN.
Halfway down the row of cars, he spotted Geena walking out of the building with a man behind her. She must be going to lunch with a coworker. Although, he’d have thought she’d return his call or reply to his texts before leaving.
Something about the way they walked made him pause beside a large, black SUV. Geena was staring straight ahead with a stiffness to her movements. The man followed close behind, his long legs making easy strides while his head swiveled to scan the parking lot.
Cody tried to remain hidden behind the vehicle, glad for a break in the rain so he could peek clearly at the pair. He dared a better look once the man’s gaze shifted from Cody’s location.
His stomach sank.
He was looking at the man who had dropped off Gary at the zoo.
The man who would have known exactly where to find Gary that night that Cody interrupted the break-in.
No, Cody thought. If the thief was this guy, wouldn’t he have just kept Gary and not dropped him off in the first place?
Then Cody remembered Anthony had arranged the drop-off himself before he went to jail. This guy wouldn’t have been able to keep the bird without the zoo knowing Gary had never arrived.
Adrenaline rushed through his body as it took every bit of concentration he could muster to not rush across the lot and tackle the man.
Why hadn’t Geena let Cody know she was going to lunch with this guy? Assuming he was a coworker.
Did she know this was the man who had dropped off Gary? Had she put something together that she didn’t have a chance to tell Cody about?
He reexamined her stiff posture and purposeful movements. Her stony gaze was aimed straight ahead of her.
This could just be how she presented herself at work for all Cody knew.
Or it could be how she looked when she was in danger.
Cody’s pulse picked up its pace as he weighed his options. She didn’t look like she was in any immediate danger. The man behind her didn’t seem to have a weapon. Not a visible one, at least.
Maybe Cody was wrong. Maybe this was just lunch between two coworkers.
Or maybe Geena was in as much trouble as Gary was.
Gary.
If this guy was responsible for Gary’s disappearance, he might be their only lead to find the parrot.
If Cody approached the man, he’d probably lie. And if Geena knew that he had Gary, the man would surely ditch any evidence that he had the bird.
Plus, there was the risk of escalating the situation, which could put Geena in real danger.
Cody briefly considered calling the police, but their disinterest so far told him that would be a waste of time. Time Gary and Geena might not have.
His best option was to follow them.
Follow them? How had his life become a tangle of heists and tailing suspects?
No time to ponder the how.
Cody returned as discreetly as possible to his car, keeping Geena in his line of vision and himself out of the man’s sight. He watched them both enter an old silver sedan that was not Geena’s car. Geena sat behind the wheel, while the man occupied the passenger’s seat.
Cody waited for them to exit their spot before backing out of his and following several car lengths behind.
“ G et out. Slowly.”
Geena did as commanded, her hands shaking slightly as she walked around James’s car. She’d parked it in front of a little house painted sea foam green, not far from the shelter.
Geena recognized the place as the house James said that he and his fiancee had purchased together to live in after the wedding. If she remembered correctly, it needed renovations that wouldn’t be finished for a few months, so the building would be empty for a while.
Empty and surrounded by nothing but oak, pecan, and crepe myrtle trees along with giant old azalea bushes out front. A perfect place to stash a bird where no one would notice.
Also, a perfect place to wave a gun at her.
“Where did you get that?” Geena figured she should keep him talking. Remind him she was his friend. That she wasn’t a threat to him, even if she knew his secret. “Why are you pointing that at me?”
James waved the gun between her and the house, demonstrating very little control over the weapon. “Inside. Please. Now.”
“Okay, okay,” Geena said with her hands raised in front of her. “How do you know how to use that thing?”
“You should be worrying about yourself right now, not my gun skills,” he said, his voice wobbling as much as that weapon. “Which are just fine, by the way. Now head inside.”
Sunshine peeked through the clouds during a brief break in the rain. The flood waters hadn’t reached this property yet, but more dark clouds were rolling in.
Geena walked toward the front porch, climbing creaking stairs that clearly were last on the list of repairs the place needed. “Why are you doing this?”
“You know why,” he said from behind her. “I know you figured out that I have that bird.”
Actually, she knew the who of Gary’s disappearance, but not the why and certainly not the whole how. Not yet, at least.
“Okay, fine,” she said. “I figured it out.”
She paused in front of the entrance with her hands raised. James kept the gun pointed at her while he unlocked the door. He pushed it open, then waved the gun to gesture at her to enter the house.
Geena visually examined the room, which was completely empty. Of furniture. Of wall hangings. Of everything.
Including no Gary.
“I meant, why are you doing all of this? Why take Gary in the first place?”
“How many times have I mentioned how expensive this wedding is?“
This whole thing really was about money. They’d suspected that all along, but she never guessed James could be involved.
Then she remembered the desperation she’d seen on his face over the last couple of weeks. The weariness. She could tell the stress was pushing him to a breaking point. But this?
“So you’re going to murder me to keep a stolen bird to help pay for your fiancée’s dream wedding?”
“Stop being so dramatic,” James said. “It doesn’t suit you.”
“I’m not being dramatic. The facts are terrible all on their own.”
James ignored her last statement and waved the gun toward the back of the house. “Let’s go.”
Geena followed his orders and entered a room that seemed intended as a bedroom. It was as empty as the previous room, except for one thing.
Gary.
He was in a much-too-small cage in the back corner of the room with an also-too-small green fabric carrier nearby on the floor. The poor bird was puffed up on a perch near the rear of the cage. He was unmoving except for his head, which turned toward Geena. He made a tiny clucking sound at her.
Geena had never heard him so quiet.
“You have to know someone will trace him to you. Anthony is going to figure out it was you and want his bird back.”
“If I’m right about how much money is in that secret account, we’ll be long gone by then.”
So she knew the what and the who and the why. She was just missing the full how.
“I know I locked that door. How did you know how to pick my lock? And the zoo’s lock. And disarm my security system?”
“I told you, I worked at a locksmith place while I was finishing school. You would have remembered if you’d cared to remember anything about me.”
That was right. He had told her that. But she hadn’t forgotten because she didn’t care.
“Been a little busy with my own marriage woes lately, in case you haven’t noticed.” There was just one last piece of the puzzle. “What about the security system? How did you dismantle it and put it back together so we couldn’t figure it was tampered with?”
James shrugged, the gun wobbling in his hand with the motion. “You can find anything online these days.”
“Does Chelsea know about this? You plan to make her live a life on the run and not tell her? You won’t have to worry about how expensive that wedding is. Anthony will find you and Gary before then.”
“You think I haven’t thought of any of this?”
James looked flustered, like he hadn’t actually thought through any of the details. Like his plan was more of a fuzzy idea than anything well considered.
“I can help you,” Geena pleaded. “We can figure a way out of this, and you and Chelsea can still have your wedding and live happily ever after.”
“We’re way past that now,” he said with a slight tremble in his voice. “But you can still help.”
Geena couldn’t think of where this was going, but the fact that he needed her help meant she wouldn’t die anytime soon. At least if she played this smart.
James waved the gun at the cage. He definitely wasn’t comfortable holding the thing. But that didn’t make him any less dangerous with it. If anything, Geena figured, his clumsiness might make him more dangerous.
“Seriously, when did you get a gun ?” Geena asked. “I thought you hated guns.”
“I did,” James said. “I do. But I got one after I started working for Tony. I figured being his accountant could make me a target at some point. So I kept it in my car, just in case.”
James wasn’t the one in danger here. But Geena figured she shouldn’t point that out at the moment. Or maybe…
“I can help you,” she said.
He waved the gun at Gary again. “The only way you can help is to get him talking.”
Get him talking?
Geena rarely experienced Gary not talking. The poor guy must be terrified.
Or he was a lot smarter than any of them gave him credit for. And Geena already thought he was pretty smart.
“Why do you need me to make him talk?”
She knew darn well what the answer to that was, but she wanted James to spell it out.
“The noises,” he said. “You know the ones. You’re smart enough to have figured out why I need that bird. So make him talk.”
It didn’t sound like she had much of a choice. And honestly, the status of Anthony Montesano’s funds wasn’t her problem. She didn’t even care if James got free and clear of the police and Anthony to disappear on some remote island.
All she cared about was getting Gary and herself out of danger.
But there was one problem.
Geena didn’t know how to make Gary “talk.” She certainly couldn’t get him to perform specific sounds on command. Except to apologize, which wouldn’t help much here. He clucked and beeped randomly on his own haphazard schedule.
She needed another way out of this.
Or at least to stall until she came up with one.
“Okay,” she said. “But I need to let him out of the cage.”
“What?” James looked confused and annoyed. “No. Why?”
“That’s when he talks,” Geena said. “He doesn’t like being locked up. I only hear him talk when he’s free to roam around.”
James glared at her. “You’re lying.”
“No, it’s true. Cody showed me how to let him out and how to get him back inside.”
She tried to keep her voice steady, but even she could pick up the slight wobble of her words. It was less about the lie, however, and more about what her next step could be without getting herself or Gary shot.
That’s when she noticed the scabbed over puncture wound on James’s hand. It looked fairly recent, like in the last few days. Gary had never bitten Geena, but James clearly hadn’t respected the parrot’s boundaries like Lauren had warned them about.
James narrowed his eyes and lowered his voice. “This better not be a trick.”
“It’s not,” she said. “If you want him to talk, you need to let him out.”
James steeled his gaze and aimed the gun directly at her. “All right. Let him out. But no funny stuff.”
Geena gave a tight smile of reassurance. She had no idea what her next move would be. All she could do now was turn toward the cage and reach for the door.